Through Glass
by FullmetalVampire123
Summary: A taxi cab carries a 19 year-old shinigami through the rainy streets of New York. AU KidLiz songfic


_I'm looking at you through the glass._

The taxi rolled through the rainy streets of New York at the amazing speed of on inch per hour. Miguel, the cab driver, leaned out the window shouting at a steady stream of curses at the other drivers. A 19 year-old shinigami sat in the back, drowning out the sound of traffic.

Kid was different. His Sanzu lines almost reached across his forehead. His hair was a bit longer and shaggier (it hadn't been cut in a while). Instead of his usual suit, he wore Converse, jeans, and a black hoodie with three stripes on the front and a shinigami skull on the back. Although it was raining, he donned a pair of sunglasses.

Bored, he turned his head to look out the window. That was when Kid saw it. Long, dirty blond hair waving in the wind. The woman turned down into an alley, and a shorter girl with clean, blond hair cut short (but not too short) followed. _I'm hallucinating… I must be. This has to be some sort of illusion. The doctor did say I was unstable…_

_Don't know how much time has passed._

Although he knew it had been five years, it seemed to be much longer. Five years ago, Kid had tried to take on a witch with Liz and Patti. Halfway through the battle, the witch knocked Kid away from the twin pistols. She cast a spell over the two sisters and left Kid broken in the middle of the desert. Thirty minutes later Maka and Soul found him, but the witch was long gone, along with the young shinigami's partners.

_Oh God it feels like forever!_

Life dragged by as if time were moving in slow motion around him. Kid became depressed. No matter how many weapons his father showed him, Kid knew he could never resonate with anyone else.

_But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head!_

He had stopped going to Shibusen. He took on the harder missions and did them alone with no help. If he couldn't have the Thompson sisters, he couldn't have anyone.

"Stop the car!" he shouted.

Miguel slammed on the brakes, startled. Kid threw a wad of dollar bills at him.

"Keep the change!"

The shinigami leaped out of the car and started sprinting down the alley after his dreams.

_How do you feel? That is the question._

In Death City it was the same thing over and over when he was around his team.

"Are you okay? How do you feel?"

He answered generically.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

To be truthful, NO, he was not okay. YES, he felt like crap. Broken and discarded. Lost. Alone.

That was why he gave up school. No more people, no more questions.

_But I forget you don't expect an easy answer._

People continued to visit him after he stopped going to school. The same questions followed him. That was when he started taking missions alone. They got his mind off things.

Just his luck for his father to send him on an assignment in Brooklyn.

_When something like a soul becomes initialized and folded up like paper dolls and little notes._

The letters started coming to his mailbox. From his friends.

He burned them.

No one could ever understand how he felt. Ever.

_You can't expect a bit of folks._

People. Kid disliked them.

You couldn't trust them.

No longer was there anyone to calm him when his OCD made him freak out. His neurotic tendencies worsened. They were at their worst when he accidentally cut himself. No matter how many times he tried, it was almost impossible to make them bleed symmetrically.

Tsubaki started cooking for him. He sat and watched her chop and dice and boil and grill. It entertained him. For a while.

_While you're outside looking in, describing what you see…_

One day whilst visiting Shibusen, Kid overheard Maka and Stein discussing the state of his soul. At first the conversation was between two concerned people, but after a few minutes it turned into two scientists discussing a test subject. He grimaced. Was this what he was becoming? Something to study?

_Remember what you're staring at is me!_

He'd done something between a scream and a roar before running out of the building back to Gallows Manor.

He was a person! Why couldn't people see that anymore? _It's their fault! All theirs!_

'_Cause I'm looking at you through the glass._

In the now, Kid turned a corner into another alley. He trudged on until he came out to a street lined with stores.

_Don't know how much time has passed._

He placed a hand on the window of a jewelry store and paused to rest.

She was in front of him again.

_Beelzebub!_

The skateboard materialized in front of him and he leapt on, riding forward, pushing aside people.

_All I know is that it feels like forever._

So close, yet so far away. She turned a corner. So did Kid.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed when he could no longer see her.

He lifted Beelzebub off the ground. Maybe from above he'd get a better view.

_But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head!_

He stopped.

"Shit! I'm going crazy, I know it! I've reached my breaking point!"

Kid was hovering in midair, looking at the city below him. Rain had already soaked his clothes. He could care less now.

There she was again.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he shouted, putting his hand on his head. "Augh!"

He took off again.

_How much is real? So much to question._

Was this a trick of the mind? Was he truly going insane? If this was real, why was she running?

_Maybe she hasn't seen me. _False hopes. She was running from him. She didn't want him. He was a fool. An idiot. An asshole. He didn't try to save her. He didn't deserve her.

_An epidemic of the mannequins, contaminating everything!_

There were too damn many people in New York. She kept disappearing in them. Kid was angry. He felt like blowing them all away. Too bad that was against his morals.

_Soul perception!_

Her soul glowed darkly among the others. Was it still an illusion? He couldn't be sure. He had to catch her.

For the first time today, he truly looked at the smaller girl following her. Would she look back? No. She hated Kid too.

_We thought came from the heart, but never did right from the start._

Was their love a lie? He'd only been with her a short time before he lost her. Maybe she'd been faking it. Maybe she'd wanted to take her sister and run from Kid. He was dangerous, after all. Or, at least, that's what he thought.

_Just listen to the noises (null and void instead of voices)._

Stein had lingered over Kid's medical files, looking occasionally for signs of schizophrenia or bipolar depression. To Stein's disappointment, the young reaper hadn't show signs of any rare mental disorders that would be good for him to study. However, the doctor was still intent on observing his soul.

Kid did hear voices occasionally. Echoes of his old self. Pointing out right from wrong. Not like he listened. He just tuned it out with music or sounds of the places around him.

_Before you tell yourself it's just a different scene._

This place seemed so foreign to him, just as it had been years ago. That was odd, considering in his time with the Thompson sisters he'd been to and from New York plenty of times. Now it felt so different. The whole area was like unexplored territory. Dangerous, unexplored territory. Kid didn't like it. He wanted to be in Death City, where you could feel the city around you, feel it living. This place was as dead as a doornail, choked by the exhaust from cars.

_Remember it's just different from what you've seen!_

_This is the same area, isn't it? _They do always go back to the scene of the crime. Maybe they had some lingering connection to him after all. Hope glimmered in Kid's eyes, and he glided closer to ground level.

_I'm looking at you through the glass._

Dear God, there she was again. Now he was convinced that she was running from him. Making him angry on purpose so he'd give up.

_Don't know how much time has passed._

How long had they been playing cat and mouse? Hours? Days? It was endless for him. Running forever after a lost dream.

_And all I know is that it feels like forever._

He'd give up forever to have them back. Forever and a century. He'd do whatever it took, even if that meant dying for them. Here, in the rain.

_But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head!_

He might just give up. That was what she wanted, right? _I'm delusional…_

_'Cause I'm looking at you through the glass._

"NO! I can't give up just yet! I swear I'll catch her! I SWEAR IT!"

_Don't know how much time has passed._

He dissolved Beelzebub and took to running on his feet. Shinigami were unnaturally fast. Not fast enough, apparently.

_And all I know is that it feels like forever._

Were they just toying with each other? _Life is just a game! Isn't it? I wonder…_

_But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head!_

He was tired of being alone. Tired of having no one there. Tired of the _people. _Tired of being watched over and cared for like a child. Tired of this miserable excuse for a life he was leading!

Kid ran faster.

_And it's the stars!_

It was late now, and the neon lights of Brooklyn battled with this natural beauty of the stars. Even though now wasn't the time for stargazing, Kid couldn't help but glance up.

_The stars that shine for you!_

_Each and every one of those is bright for her, _he decided. _Each and every one._

_And it's the stars!_

The starts were so entrancing that he slowed down to a steady walk and pushed his sunglasses back to the top of his head. The sparkle captured him and made him gleam.

_The stars that lie to you, yeah!_

_What jokers, _Kid thought. _They try to blend in with the brightness of this city. They're far too beautiful to achieve that._

__

And it's the stars!

He stood frozen, his head tilted all the way back to gaze at the pure beauty of the sky.

_The stars that shine for you!_

Even the city and all its noise and trouble seemed to slow down at night, the sky above them pulling them all in and wrapping them up in a dark, shining blanket.

_And it's the stars!_

"Stars. What fools they are."

_The stars that lie to you, yeah!_

With a jolt, Kid remembered what he was here for. So far away from where he first started. He looked back down at the path ahead of him. It was dark and he was tired. The bright signs on buildings hurt his eyes, and he pushed his glasses back down to dim the light.

_I'm looking at you through the glass._

Had he lost her? Kid didn't see the long, dirty blond hair, nor its sister. He sighed and pulled the hood back over his head then shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket.

_Don't know how much time has passed._

"That was time wasted. What am I even here for anyways?" he wondered aloud, leaned up against a brick wall.

_Oh God it feels like forever._

Kid slipped his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out the card from his dad. To the shinigami's dismay, he couldn't read the assignment in this dim light (especially not with his sunglasses on).

_But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head._

Kid felt like crying, but as Soul had always said, cool guys don't cry. He sucked it up and moped silently in the night.

He was almost ready to leave and find a hotel when the cold metal of a gun barrel was pushed into his lower jaw. _Shit, just my luck!_

_'Cause I'm looking at you through the glass._

"C'mon, punk! Wallet on the ground!" his attacker grumbled. She grinded the cigarette between her teeth. "C'mon!"

_Don't know how much time has passed._

Kid was about to give his captor a firm punch to the face, but then he stopped.

"What are you, MR? Give. Us. Your. MONEY!"

_That voice…_

"Are you even listening to me?" she screeched.

_"Sis, maybe he's deaf!" _said the gun.

Now he was sure. Normal guns didn't talk.

_All I know is that it feels like forever._

She put the gun on his forehead.

"I'll blow your brains out! Not kidding!" she said, getting irritated.

"L-l… L-l-l-l…" he stuttered, unable to form words.

"Got something to say, punk? Last words?"

_But no one ever tells you that forever feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head!_

"LIZ!"

She jumped, startled that this random stranger knew her nickname. And that there were suddenly tears streaming down his face.

"Oh Liz… Patti…"

"How do you know us?" she asked, stepping back. Her sister reverted to human form.

"You don't recognize me? Oh shit, the hood and glasses. Sorry…"

He stopped and removed the glasses, his golden eyes glowing bright in the night. Then he pulled the hood back, revealing those three white stripes that defined him.

Elizabeth Thompson was without words.

_And it's the stars!_

"K-kid? Is it really you?" she stumbled forward.

"Disappointed?" he said, smirking through the tears.

_The stars that shine for you, yeah!_

The smile faded as quickly as it came.

"Oh… you must… I should go," he said, turning away from her. "I failed you, you must hate me."

_And it's the stars!_

Kid got about five feet before he was tackled from behind. Sobs racked her body, and she gripped him tighter.

"You idiot! We failed _you_! When… when the witch's spell broke, we felt so bad for failing you that we thought you must not want us back! So… so we came here…"

_The stars that lie to you, yeah!_

Now he felt really dumb. Both of them blamed themselves for their losses.

"You idiot! You big, asymmetrical, snobbish idiot!" she screamed into his chest.

_And it's the stars!_

"How about we forget about then?" he asked, removing her arms from his torso and brushing the hair out of her face. "Let's start over. You, me, and Patti. Wanna be partners?"

_The stars that shine for you, yeah!_

Liz wiped the tears from her face and looking into his two-tone eyes.

_And it's the stars!_

He stuck out his hand, an offering to her.

_The stars that lie to you, yeah yeah!_

She accepted.

_Who are the stars?_

"Group hug!" shouted Patti. She leaped up and tackled the two, knocking them to the ground in a dog pile. For a moment, Kid took the time to enjoy the warmth of his two partners splayed on top of him, glancing up at the jokers in the sky that pretended to blend in with the city.

_Who are the stars that lie?_

"Patti! Get off of me! You are ruining the absolute symmetry of the moment! Just look at how the stars above us are lined up so perfectly!"

Kid pointed up above them and the younger girl's blue eyes flickered upwards.

"They do look nice…" said Liz, absentmindedly.

For around a minute, they all sat there on the concrete, looking up at the stars.

"EW! OHMIGOSH KID YOUR CLOTHES ARE SOAKING WET! AND HOLY CRAP, WE ARE IN A DARK ALLEY AT NIGHT! WE'RE GONNA GET RAPED!"


End file.
